NextGen networks are expected to support a diverse set of use cases including but not limited to mMTC, eMBB UR/LL. Network/RAN slicing is a concept that has been proposed to allow operators to meet the diverse and sometimes conflicting requirements of these use cases. However, legacy procedures such as random access are not designed to support network/RAN slicing architectures. A need exists to develop a new random access procedure optimized for NextGen networks configured for network/RAN slicing.
New Radio (NR) Access Technology is currently being studied to identify and develop technology components for systems operating at frequencies up to 100 GHz. Beamforming is expected to be employed to compensate for the increased path loss in these High Frequency NR (HF-NR) systems. However, the existing random access procedures based on omni-directional or sector-based transmission do not support the functions required for beamforming-based access such as beam sweeping, beam pairing, beam training, etc. A need exists for enhanced random access procedures that support beamforming for NR networks.